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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady practiced Friday with the New England Patriots after being limited in Thursday’s session by an injury to his non-throwing shoulder.

Two days after sitting out practice, Brady stretched with his teammates during the brief period open to reporters.

Asked what Brady was able to do Thursday, coach Bill Belichick said Friday: “Play quarterback, the usual thing.” When asked if Wednesday was a planned day off for Brady, Belichick said he thought that had been covered.

The Patriots have said Wednesday’s absence was not injury-related.

When asked whether Brady would be able to play Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, Belichick said that, too, has been covered.

Comcast SportsNet has reported that Brady had X-rays to check for a separated left shoulder and was told he was “all set.”

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Tom Brady participated in practice Thursday on a limited basis because of a left shoulder injury.

The New England Patriots quarterback had missed Wednesday’s session, but the team said his absence was not injury-related.

Comcast SportsNet reported that same day that Brady had X-rays to check for a separated left shoulder and was told he was “all set.” Patriots spokesman Stacey James said Thursday: “If there was an injury then it would be on the injury report.”

Brady was listed on Thursday’s report as having participated on a limited basis with the shoulder injury. He was one of 17 Patriots listed as participating on a limited basis, meaning a player took part in fewer than 100 percent of his normal repetitions.

He loosened up and ran with his teammates at the start of the practice while reporters were allowed to watch.

Brady landed hard on his left shoulder with 1:40 left in the fourth quarter Saturday when he was tackled by Kevin Burnett on a scramble in a 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins in which he also scored on two 1-yard sneaks.

Roethlisberger says he will play Sunday

Story continues below

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t want his sprained left ankle to keep him out of Pittsburgh’s regular-season finale Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.

“As long as I can deal with pain, I’ll be out there,” Roethlisberger said Thursday. “I don’t want to let the guys down, so I’ll do what I can to be out there.”

Roethlisberger, who sat out the Steelers’ win last Sunday against the St. Louis Rams, fully participated in practice again Thursday. He said the ankle, sprained on Dec. 8 in Pittsburgh’s last meeting with the Browns, was “a little sore.”

There’s plenty at stake against the Browns as the Steelers (11-4) remain in the hunt for the AFC North title.

Around the league

Cowboys • With tape still wrapped around his bruised throwing hand after practice, quarterback Tony Romo insists that he will be ready to play in what is essentially a playoff game against the New York Giants.

Vikings • Running back Adrian Peterson is scheduled for surgery Friday to repair torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee. Noted specialist James Andrews will perform the operation.

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady and the New England Patriots looked lost in a terrible first half. Then they rallied to finish as winners, clinching a playoff bye with a 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins on Saturday.

The Patriots trailed, 17-0, at halftime then scored on their first five possessions in the second half. The Dolphins helped when Matt Moore lost a fumble at his 38-yard line, then threw an interception that Devin McCourty picked off at the Patriots’ 2.

New England (12-3) won its seventh straight game. After Houston lost to Indianapolis on Thursday night, the Patriots needed a win or a tie to lock up one of the top two spots in the AFC.

Miami (5-10) lost for the third time in eight games after opening at 0-7 and is 1-1 under Todd Bowles, who took over when Tony Sparano was fired.

But the Dolphins seemed headed for a victory and got a break even before the game started when Patriots left tackle Matt Light hurt his ankle in warm-ups and didn’t play. Left guard Logan Mankins took his spot, but he left with a knee injury suffered on New England’s second series.

Their absence showed as the Dolphins kept pressuring Brady. He completed 7 of 19 passes for 87 yards and was sacked three times in the half. But once the third quarter began, Brady and the Patriots looked completely different starting with the very first play, a 22-yard completion to Rob Gronkowski.

Brady completed 20 of 27 passes for 217 yards in the second half, finishing at 27-for-46 for 304 and leading one scoring drive after another — a 45-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski, a 1-yard pass to Deion Branch, a 1-yard sneak by Brady that tied the game, a go-ahead 42-yard field goal by Gostkowski after McCourty’s first interception of the year and another 1-yard sneak by Brady with 2:56 to go.

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FOXBOROUGH – Tom Brady and the New England Patriots looked lost in a terrible first half. Then they rallied to finish as winners, clinching a playoff bye with a 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins on Saturday.

The Patriots trailed 17-0 at halftime then scored on their first five possessions in the second half. The Dolphins helped when Matt Moore lost a fumble at his 38-yard line then threw an interception that Devin McCourty picked off at the Patriots 2.

New England (12-3) won its seventh straight game. After the Houston Texans lost to the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night, the Patriots needed a win or a tie to lock up one of the top two spots in the AFC.

Miami (5-10) lost for the third time in eight games after opening at 0-7 and is 1-1 under Todd Bowles, who took over when Tony Sparano was fired.

But the Dolphins seemed headed for a victory and got a break even before the game started when Patriots left tackle Matt Light hurt his ankle in warmups and didn’t play. Left guard Logan Mankins took his spot, but he left with a knee injury suffered on New England’s second series.

Their absence showed as the Dolphins kept pressuring Brady. He completed just 7 of 19 passes for 87 yards and was sacked three times in the half. But once the third quarter began, Brady and the Patriots – both their offense and defense – looked completely different starting with the very first play, a 22-yard completion to Rob Gronkowski.

Brady completed 20 of 27 passes for 217 yards in the second half, finishing at 27 for 46 for 304 and leading one scoring drive after another – a 45-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski, a 1-yard pass to Deion Branch, a 1-yard sneak by Brady that tied the game, a go-ahead 42-yard field goal by Gostkowski after McCourty’s first interception of the year, and another 1-yard sneak by Brady with 2:56 to go.

The Dolphins made it closer on Moore’s 15-yard scoring pass to Davone Bess with 1:48 to play. They had three timeouts left, but their hopes faded when Brady hit Wes Welker for a 6-yard gain and a first down. Welker had 12 catches for 138 yards.

Reggie Bush had another outstanding game for Miami with his fourth straight rushing day of at least 100 yards. He finished with 113 on 22 carries one week after gaining a career-high 203 yards.

The Dolphins had taken a 3-0 lead on Dan Carpenter’s 47-yard field goal 4:01 into the game and made it 10-0 with 1:15 gone in the second quarter on Moore’s 19-yard pass to Brandon Marshall.

They stretched that to 17-0, the Patriots biggest deficit of the season, on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Moore to Charles Clay. The 89-yard drive was helped by two defensive pass interference penalties on third down.

The Patriots punted on their first six possessions, then wasted a chance to score when Gostkowski’s 51-yard field goal attempt on the next to last play of the half went wide to the left.

That’s all for today.

Patriots outside linebacker Rob Ninkovich (50) sacks Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (15) on fourth down in the 4th quarter. (Staff photo by Keith Nordstrom)

DENVER (AP) – Not this time, Tim Tebow.

Not with Tom Brady on hand.

Brady threw for two touchdowns, ran for another and the New England Patriots shut down Tebow’s late-game heroics and clinched a playoff berth with a 41-23 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

“It was a really good day for us,” Brady said. “Very emotional game. It was really rocking early. We showed some mental toughness.”

The Patriots (11-3) won their sixth straight game and another AFC East title by bouncing back from an early 17-6 deficit and an awful first quarter in which they were outgained on the ground 167 yards to 4.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) throws under pressure from Broncos outside linebacker D.J. Williams. (Staff photo by Keith Nordstrom)

This time, there was no last-minute magic from Tebow, who had guided the Broncos (8-6) to four straight fourth-quarter comebacks and six straight wins.

Instead of another slow start followed by a fantastic finish, the Broncos started fast and then fizzled.

They scored on their first three possessions and then were done in by a trio of turnovers in the final 81/2 minutes of the second quarter.

“We did have things going pretty well early, scored on the first three possessions and felt like we were moving the ball good and then we put it on the ground,” Tebow said. “That’s something you can’t do against a great team and Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

“Besides that, we were right there with them.”

Champ Bailey had said the Broncos needed a big game against a big QB to prove to themselves and others that they were not just a curiosity but a contender.

They didn’t get it on this day.

“We showed today that we’re not ready to go to the playoffs and make a push,” Bailey said. “We’ve got to get better and we only have two or three weeks to do it. If we don’t, then we’ll be sitting home.”

For a sixth straight season.

With their first loss since Oct. 30, the AFC West-leading Broncos face a tougher path to the playoffs, with a trip to Buffalo next week followed by a season finale against Kansas City, which ended Green Bay’s 19-game winning streak Sunday behind Kyle Orton, the player Tebow replaced in Denver.

“I definitely feel like we’re all right,” said Tebow, now 7-2 as Denver’s starter.

He threw for 194 yards and ran for 93 yards and two scores but was sacked four times, including a 28-yard loss in the fourth quarter.

“I thought he improved,” coach John Fox said. “He’ll continue to improve. This was a setback, no doubt about that. But sometimes setbacks are setups for bigger things to come.”

After all, the last time Tebow lost, to Detroit on Oct. 30, he was put on notice that his starting job was a week-to-week proposition, and Tebow won his next six starts.

The one thing Tebow and the Broncos haven’t been able to do is keep up with the league’s elite passers. Denver has faced four QBs currently ranked in the top-10 in yards passing – Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, Philip Rivers (twice) and Brady. They’re 1-4 in those games.

Asked if Tebow & Co. can keep up with the league’s top passers if they make it into the playoffs, Fox said: “I can’t predict that. He’s gotten better every week. Six or seven weeks ago, people said he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. He does that. I think he can do that. I don’t think that was why we lost the game tonight.”

Brady was.

“He’s still the best out there, in my opinion,” Bailey said. “And you make mistakes against a guy like that, he’s going to make you pay. That’s pretty much what happened all day.”

Safety Brian Dawkins missed the game with a neck injury and the Broncos missed him as they had to rely on rookies Quinton Carter and Raheem Moore.

“You can’t expect to get the same results when you lose a guy like that,” Bailey said. “But, at the same time, guys have to step up as professionals. You can’t play like that and expect to get wins.”

Brady was 23 of 34, including his first scoring toss to Chad Ochocinco. His TD run was his first of the year.

Brady made up for another bad day by the Patriots’ defense to beat the Broncos for the second time in eight career starts – the only team with a winning record against the three-time Super Bowl champion.

The Broncos’ 167 yards rushing in the first quarter – 11 more than their league-leading per-game average – represented the biggest output in any quarter of the Belichick era in New England.

But they would manage just 85 more.

After the Patriots fell behind 16-7, they went to the no-huddle and Brady threw a 1-yard TD strike to Aaron Hernandez, who set career highs with nine catches for 129 yards.

The Broncos’ ball-control offense stumbled after that.

Lance Ball, who earlier scored his first TD in the NFL on a beautiful 32-yard scamper, fumbled at his own 19 and linebacker Rob Ninkovich recovered, leading to Stephen Gostkowski’s 21-yard field goal put the Patriots up for good at 17-16.

Then, defensive end Mark Anderson, subbing for Andre Carter, who seriously injured his left knee earlier in the game, forced and recovered a fumble by Tebow at the Broncos 40. Six plays later, Brady took it in himself from a yard out to make it 24-16.

Brady celebrated his eighth career TD with a masterful spike.

“I don’t get in the end zone very often,” Brady said. “Maybe once a season. So, when I do I get pretty excited.”

The Broncos’ bumbling ways – which included a bad snap on an extra point attempt – continued when punt returner Quan Cosby tried to field a punt on the run and muffed it with three seconds left.

Dane Fletcher recovered for New England and Gostkowski trotted out for a 34-yard field goal to make it 27-16 at halftime.

Tebow’s 2-yard keeper with 8:41 left pulled the Broncos to 34-23 and had the crowd thinking comeback again, but Brady led the Patriots on another 80-yard scoring drive, this one culminating in BenJarvus Green-Ellis’ 1-yard TD run.

“The more we fight, the better this team gets,” defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said. “We knew they were going to come out fighting. They were going to come out fast and explosive. Our main goal was to weather the storm.”

Notes: The Patriots qualified for the playoffs for the 13th time since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994. … The Broncos haven’t won seven straight since 1998. … New England hadn’t won in Denver since 2003. … Brady’s last TD run was Nov. 14, 2010, at Pittsburgh.

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The collective tenure of head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady has completely overhauled much of New England Patriots history.

But there’s one long-standing aspect of the franchise’s past that Belichick and Brady have done little to change.

Like those that have come before them, they haven’t been able to consistently beat the Denver Broncos.

In his 12th year at the helm of the Patriots, Belichick is just 3-6 against Denver — his worst winning percentage against an AFC squad. Brady, meanwhile, is an unseemly 1-6 facing the Broncos, including the postseason. Brady against everyone else, by the way? 134-34.

In this regard, they’re far from unique in Patriots history. Bill Parcells? Two losses to Denver by an average of 30 points. Raymond Berry? Winless in five tries. Drew Bledsoe? Two wins in six games.

In fact, New England is 4-17 in its last 21 meetings with the Broncos, dating to Nov. 4, 1984.

On one level, it would seem to make sense. Despite some down years of late, the Broncos have been one of the best franchises in the conference since, well, John Elway arrived in 1982. Denver was really New England’s dynastic forerunner in the AFC, having back-to-back championships in the late 1990s behind Elway and Terrell Davis, ending the NFC’s decades-long dominance of the Lombardi Trophy.

But at the same time, this past decade hasn’t been Denver’s best, and it’s stunning that any team — let alone one that has dabbled in mediocrity of late — can boast this kind of sustained success against this Patriots administration. After all, it isn’t like the Broncos have been piling up 12-win seasons and Super Bowl appearances, like the Colts and Steelers, respectively, in the AFC. Yet New England handles those two teams much better than Denver.

Denver has made the playoffs four times while Belichick has been the head coach in New England, but the last trip was in 2005. One more victory this season would give the Broncos their first winning campaign since 2006, or back when Vince Young was the league’s Offensive Rookie of the Year.

So what gives?

“We just haven’t played very well. We’ve had some very close games against them; we just haven’t pulled it out,” said Brady last week. They’re a good team. They’ve had a good team for a long time — when [Mike] Shanahan was there, and I think we’ve played a bunch of very tight games with them. Hopefully we can start working our way to getting even.”

It’s tempting to pin much of the blame on the difficulty of playing in Denver, what with the trip out west and the thinner air. The Patriots did fly out on Friday, a day earlier than usual, to have an extra day to acclimate to the weather.

“Maybe it’s the mile-high air. Maybe there’s something to that,” said Brady.

But that excuse doesn’t hold much water, not when the Dolphins, Bills and Jets have all won a mile-high since 2009. And not when the Broncos haven’t had a winning season at home since 2007.

“Both teams will be breathing the same air,” Belichick said. “Best thing we can do is play well. We’ve gone out there and played well and won. We’ve gone out there and not played well and haven’t won.”

Denver is the site of Brady’s first playoff loss ever, and Belichick’s first with the Patriots — a game sealed by perhaps the most memorable interception of Brady’s career, when Champ Bailey picked him off in the end zone and returned it to the New England one.

Of course, that was six years ago, and the Patriots don’t suffer the past like a Faulkner character. Asked about his 1-5 regular-season record against the Broncos, Brady didn’t put too much stock in it.

“1-5? Man, that’s pretty bad. Hopefully we get to 2-5 this week,” the quarterback said. “Losing [stinks]; you hate losing, but there’s nothing I can do about those games in the past now. So I’ll just try to win this one. That will make me feel pretty good.”

One of the stranger aspects of Denver’s dominion over the Patriots is its consistency despite the turnover of personnel for the Broncos. Their success against Belichick and Brady has come with different coaches and different quarterbacks. Denver has beaten New England under Mike Shanahan and Josh McDaniels — both eventually fired — and with Brian Griese, Jake Plummer and Kyle Orton under center — all eventually traded or released.

This is a decidedly different Broncos regime, with John Fox in his first season as head coach and Tim Tebow making his first career start against New England. Both bring strong track records — Fox’s just in a larger sample than Tebow’s so far.

“I think it’s been obviously always a tough week to prepare for John’s teams,” said Belichick, who is 3-1 against Fox in his career, including a win in Super Bowl XXXVIII. “They do a good job with their different schemes, give you some different looks, really keep you honest, and we’ve certainly seen that in all three phases this week. There’s a lot to get ready for.”

But the Patriots hope that the changes in personnel for the Broncos lead to a change in their head-to-head history.

“It doesn’t really matter about what happened in other years,” said Belichick. “This is a new team and it’s a new coach out there. They do things differently than they’ve done them in the past, so it doesn’t really matter. They’re good right now. They’re playing well.

“Damn right, they’re a tough team to face. I don’t really think the ’87 team has anything to do with this game, in all honesty. I think it has no bearing on it whatsoever.” PATRIOTS AT BRONCOS TIME : 4:15 p.m. Sunday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. ON TV : CBS (Channel 12 in Providence, Channel 4 in Boston). Jim Nantz play-by-play, Phil Simms color. ON RADIO : WBZ-FM (98.5), WPRO (630 AM), WEAN (99.7 FM), WSAR (1480 AM), WBSM (1420 AM). WEATHER : Sunny, 49 degrees. ALL-TIME SERIES : Denver leads, 27-16, including postseason. The Patriots are 8-18 in Denver. NOTEWORTHY : Tim Tebow is the 11th different quarterback to start for the Broncos since John Elway retired in 1999. Elway was 10-0 against New England in his career; the Broncos are 5-4 against the Pats since Elway retired.

tbritton@providencejournal.com

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Read More: Tom Brady (QB – NEP), Rob Gronkowski (TE – NEP), Tim Tebow (QB – DEN), New England Patriots, Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos are going to face their first real challenge of the season since Tim Tebow took over as starting quarterback when they welcome the New England Patriots to Mile High. The only elite quarterback the Broncos have faced this season before Tom Brady was the Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers, who threw for 408 yards and four touchdown passes and rushed for two more scores.

And the Broncos defense has allowed 45, 24 and 32 points during this winning streak. It is quite possible that Brady and the Patriots could beat up the Broncos defense. The early projections from numberFire have both Brady and his star tight end Rob Gronkowski are the top of their respective positions. Brady is the No. 2 quarterback and overall player (behind Rodgers) this week and projected to reach 17.69 points. Gronkowski ranks as the No. 23 best fantasy option and No. 1 at the tight end position with his 13.40 points. Will Gronkowski be able to make it seven straight games with a touchdown pass?

For more on this game visit Broncos blog Mile High Report and Patriots blog Pats Pulpit. For extra help during the fantasy football playoffs, head over to SB Nation Fantasy or ask on Twitter, @sbnationfantasy.

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